“When it comes to paying contractors, the sky is the limit; when it comes to financing the basic functions of the state, the coffers are empty.”
― Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Summer always brings out the absurd in education policy.

This week, the Tennessee Department of Education finally got around to releasing scores for third and fourth-graders from the Staes TCAP test. Kinda a big deal, because those scores determine whether a student advances or whether they must repeat third or fourth grade. Yeah, I know it’s mid-June and we should probably already have determined that, but this is the TNDOE after all.

Last year, roughly 60% of the state’s third graders were at risk of being retained, but ultimately, due to the multitude of options made available by lawmakers, the state only retained about 1.2% of them.

Turned out to be a lot of noise about nothing, unless you count student and parent anxiety as something.

Based on the limited results released yesterday, this year there are a similar number of students at risk of being retained. At least if you take the TNDOE at face value.

The TNDOE may have touted yesterday as a release of the scores, but in reality, it was a release of the press release and a promise that the data would be forthcoming someday, department officials just didn’t know when. Maybe it’ll be a repeat of last year’s release of state report cards, which came a couple weeks before TCAP was administered. You know, when they were completely useless.

I presume that many of those kids who are identified as being at risk took the retake as permissible by law? How did they do? How many of those are at risk and must now attend summer camp or enroll in tutoring?

How many of those kids who scored below proficient this year are covered by exemptions from retention provided in the law? Those included students with an IEP or English Learners who have only been in the country a short time.

One of the cool things that Tennessee does is if you show up in a Tennessee school days before TCAP, and speak limited English, you must still take the test.

That was sarcasm, in case you didn’t recognize it. It’s actually one of the more moronic things we do. But I digress.

For their purposes, the DOE would prefer that you ignore the results for third grade and instead focus on the massive growth made by fourth graders – 2.9%.

Again with the limited amount of data available, it’s hard to draw any real conclusions. The graph included with the press release shows growth measured by comparison with previous 3rd and 4th-grade cohorts, but those are all different students. We’d better off comparing last year’s third-grade performance with this year’s fourth-grade performance.

Last year, this cohort scored 40% on track, this year, as fourth-graders, they scored a 46%. That’s promising, but to what do we attribute it to?

Does removing 1.2% of the lowest performers raise the scores overall?

What did those retained score on the third-grade test this go around? Did their scores lower the achievement of the other third graders?

The TNDOE, and Commissioner Reynolds want us to celebrate, but they won’t tell us what exactly we are celebrating.

One could argue that we are celebrating data that demonstrates a lack of need for vouchers because scores are only going up.

Don’t expect a cake with that written on it, All you have to do is listen to the words of Governor Bill Lee to realize that he still ain’t ready to give credit where credit is due.

“Tennessee’s strategic education investments have resulted in significant gains in reading for students across the state,” said Gov. Bill Lee. “As we continue our work to ensure that all Tennessee students can read at grade level, we remain committed to supporting teachers and empowering families with multiple pathways to achievement so every student can thrive in their academic journey.”

Another caveat to keep in mind while receiving these glad tidings is the growing evidence that third-grade retention may goose the numbers in the short term, but most of those improvements have disappeared by eighth grade. I’d consider that a concern.

Paul Thomas, a respected national literacy expert recently noted:

Most of the US has early literacy policy, significantly clustered since about 2010. While this is important context, the figures also reveal a key problem with this report—the source being a conservative think tank, ExcelinEd.

ExcelinEd is a Jeb Bush venture and represents the political and ideological connections among third-grade retention, reading policy, and political gain.

Thomas further notes:

ExcelinEd is grounded in Florida’s reading reform and high rates of grade retention that have produced exceptionally high NAEP scores in grade 4 reading (an outcome this report confirms across the US), but the largest decrease from grade 4 to grade 8 reading scores.

Thomas draws attention to the fact that determinations are based on high-stakes testing, despite us knowing that high-stakes testing data is causally related to out-of-school factors at a 60%+ rate. That’s pretty substantial.

Despite the obvious red flags, third and fourth-grade retention policies remain popular with politicians because of their measurable short-term impact. Most of them will be gone by the time this cohort’s eighth-grade results roll in.

The TNDOE’s failure to make data available hampers Tennesseans from fully embracing results. A full picture of literacy rates in Tennessee is only possible if made available prior to the state submitting their spin on results.

It’s quite possible that some districts raised the average with strong performances, while others lowered it.

TNDOE provides no clear information about the fidelity of implementation by local districts. Maybe it was state policy or maybe it was local, who knows?

Chalkbeat reports that in Memphis, student scores went up by 3 percentage points to 26.6% in third grade, and by 1.8 percentage points to 28.5% for fourth graders.

First off, both the scores serve to lower the state average.

Secondly, if the data is available for Memphis, why is it not available for every district in Tennessee?

Somebody needs to call down to South Padre Island and ask Commissioner Reynolds if she can’t answer a few questions.

Though answering questions has never been a strong suit for her.

Until the data is made fully available, I’d be hesitant to jump on the party train.

– – –

A report out of Nashville tells the story of two 12-year-olds enrolled in summer school who decided to take their teacher’s car keys off her desk and take her car for a joy ride. The pair got about 78 miles down the road before being apprehended.

Metro Nashville Public Schools responded to questions from News 4 with the following:

MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted says they cannot release disciplinary outcomes because of federal privacy laws but they said this does break their code of conduct.

They also said all employees are encouraged to keep their personal belongings in locked storage spaces that are given to them and that no policy changes are being considered right now.

How about instead of telling teachers to lock things up, we tell students there are consequences to taking things that don’t belong to them?

How about one sentence expressing concern for the trauma forced on the teacher by having her car stolen?

Depending on the teacher’s age, that car might have been the largest financial investment she’s ever made. That should not be dismissed or taken lightly.

Classrooms are meant to be viewed as a safe space for teachers and students. The actions of the students have shattered that perception of safety. Yet, nobody from Central Office makes that simple acknowledgment.

A few years ago a similar incident happened at a district high school. That student was suspended for three days and then returned to the teachers classroom. Imagine.

The incident appears to be taken pretty lightly considering the possible outcomes that were narrowly avoided. Imagine if those students had hurt themselves or others?

If any damage was done to the teacher’s car, who’s responsible?

MNPS continues to struggle with teacher retention and recruitment, yet they continually fail to see every public interaction as an opportunity to make a positive impact.

The actions of these students only serve to reiterate the inherent dangers of teaching in an urban school district. Yet, MNPS offers no counter-narrative. Only a warning to lock up your shit, inadvertently reinforcing the narrative by acknowledging the risk of teaching urban students.

Not a good look.

A strongly worded statement from the district would have sent a message of support to both current employees and potential future employees. A simple expression of empathy to an educator who’d been traumatized, would have signaled a sense of concern for teacher well well-being.

Instead, the message is that when teaching in MNPS, you are your own, except when we need you to produce some desired outcomes.

Can’t imagine why the district continues to suffer from teacher shortages.

– – –

Talk around Governor Bill continues to center around his plans to reintroduce voucher legislation during the next session. To further those goals, he’s out endorsing state candidates to the General Assembly that could help further. his cause.

It seems like a strategy with higher risks than rewards, but as State Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) told the Tennessee Lookout, “The governor’s entitled to spend his summer as he likes, but that voucher vacation isn’t gonna be good for Tennessee.”

Personally, the last thing I would want is an endorsement from Governor Lee, but rumor has it that he still enjoys popularity with the general state population. The Lookout lists the following as receiving endorsements.

“So far, Lee has backed Senate Education Chairman Jon Lundberg over Republican opponent Bobby Harshbarger in District 4, and Sen. Ferrell Haile over challenger Chris Spencer in District 18.

In addition, he endorsed Cepicky, House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland and Republican Jason Emert in House District 20, which is being vacated by Rep. Bryan Richey as he (weakly) runs for the Senate seat Art Swann is leaving, according to the Tennessee Journal.

The governor is also backing Republican Lee Reeves over Brian Beathard and Michelle Foreman in Williamson County’s House District 65, Republican Aron Maberry over three other Republicans in Montgomery County’s District 68, Rep. John Ragan over Rick Scarbrough in the District 33 Republican primary, and there could be more.”

For his part, Lee better hope at least a few of those win their races, or he’s going to really put the “lame” in “lame duck”. Nothing like positioning yourself as a kingmaker, and then not making any kings.

– – –

Per usual, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.

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Categories: Education